Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-01-15

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the heaven of her smile, to those days
when you filled the house with the up
roar of boisterous merriment; when
you shouted as you pitched the ball on
the playground; when, on the cold.
sharp. winter night, mutlled up on
skates you shot out over the rcsound-
ing pondp Have you forgotten all
those good days that the Lord gave
you? Were you never a boy? Were
YOU never n grip Between those times
and this, how many mercies, how many
kindnesses the Lord has bestowed upon
Won How many joys have breathed
up to you from the flowers, and shone
down to you from the stars, and chanted
TO you with the voice of soaring bird,
and tumbling cascade, and booming
sea, and thunder that with bayonets of
fire charged down the mountain side!
JOY! JOY! JOY!
If there is anyone who has n right
to the joyment of the world, it is the
Christian, for God has given him a
lease to everything in the promise:
"All are yours" But | have to tell
you, that a man who estimates his life
on earth by mere worldly qualification
is a most unwise man. Our life is not
to be n game Of chess. 1t is not II
dance in lighted nail, to quick music.
1t is not the roth of an ale pitcher. 1t
is not the settings of "A wine cup. 1t is
not IA banquet with intoxication and roy
stering. 1t is the first step on a ladder
that mounts into the skies, or the first
step on a road that plunges into n hor-
rible abyss. So that in this world we
are only keying up the harp of rapture,
or forging the chain of a bondage.
And standing before you to-day, with
life on the one side and death on the
other; song on the one side and groan-
ing on the other; mansions on the one
side and hell on the other-I put to
you the question of the ext; "lfow
old art thoup'
TOWARDS WHAT DESTINY ARE you
TENDING,
and now fast are you getting on to-
wards itP
Again. | remark that there are
many who estimate their life on earth
by their sorrows and their misfortunes.
Through II great many Of your lives
the plough-share hath gone yery deep,
turning up q terrible furrow. You
have been betrayed, and misrepre-
sented, and set upon, and slapped of
impcrtinence, and pounded of misfor-
tune. The brightest life must have its
shadows, and the smoothest path it,
thorns On the happiest brood the
hawk pounces. No escape from trouble
of some kind. Because death came
and took your child away, did
you Immediately forget all the five
years, OF the ten years, or the fifteen
years III which she came every night
for n kiss, all the tones Of your heart
pealing forth at the sound Of her voice
or the soft touch of her hand? Because
in some financial Euroclydon your for
tune went into the breakers, did you
forget all those years in which the lux
uries and eXtravaganceS oflifc shOwcred
on your pathway Alas! that is an
unwise man, an ungrateful man, an
unfair man, an unphilosophic man, and
| llOSb VI tll, hll NIClll lNllll llllIl. no
measures his life on earth by groans,
and tears, and dyspeptic fit, and abuse,
and scorn, and terror, and neuralgia
thrust.
Again: | remark hat there are
many people who estimate their life on
earth by the amount of money they
have accumulated. They say: The
year 1866, or 1876, or 1886 was
wasted" Why? Made no money.
Now, it is all can and insincerity to
talk against money n though it had
no value. 1t is refinement, and cdu-
cation, and ten thousand blessed sur
roundings. II is the spreading of the
table that feeds your children's hunger.
1t il, the lighting Of the furnace that
keeps YOU warm. 1t is the making OF
the bed on which you rest from care
and anxiety. 1t is the carrying out at
last of you to decent sepulture, and the
putting up of the slab on which is
chiselled
THE STORY OF YOUR CHRISTIAN HOPE.
1t is simply hypocrisy, this TRADE in
pulpit and lecture hall, against money.
rs though it had no uses. 1t Is hands,
and feet, and sails, and ten thousand
grand and glorious enterprises.
But ! remark: There are many
wish there were more-who estimate
their life by their moral and spiritual
development. 1t is not sinful egotism
for a Christian man to say: 81 am
purer than | used to be. | am more
consecrated to Christ than | used to
be. l have got over a great many of
the bad habits in which | used to in
dulge. am n great deal better man
than | used to be-"
There is nc sinful egotism in that. II
is not base egotism for a soldier to
say: Il know more about military
tactics than | used to before / took a
musket in my hand, and learned to
present arms and when | was n pest
to the drill officer 1t is not base ego
tism for a sailor to say: II know how
better to clew down the mizzen topsail,
than | used TO before | had ever seen a
ship" And there is no sinful egotism
when q Christian man, fighting the
battles of the Lord. or if you will have
it, voyaging towards a haven of eter-
-, - axa. al Inau mara ahnttt